Showing results by author "Katie Flynn" in All Categories

Along a blacked-out wartime street a girl is scurrying, a basket on one arm. As sirens begin and bombs crash down, she is filled with panic and, with a heavy heart, abandons her burden in a sheltered doorway, meaning to return later. Even as she disappears in the resulting chaos, the bundle in the basket begins to wail.

Lottie and her mother, Louella, share a house in Victoria Court with Mr Magic and his son, Baz. Lottie is a child star, dancing and singing at the Gaiety Theatre; Louella acts as Max Magic's assistant. But a road accident causes Lottie to lose her memory. Then Lottie meets a boy with golden-brown eyes who calls her "Sassy" and accuses her of running away. It is after this meeting that the dreams start, dreams of another life, almost another world.

Liverpool, 1942. Though they may be posted miles apart, Cadi and Jez's love for one another is stronger than ever—until Cadi receives a heart-breaking call from Jez's base. Cadi races to be with her beau and at his bedside, they make each other a promise before they say their goodbyes. In her darkest hour, Cadi is comforted by her friends and with their support and guidance she begins to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But Cadi will face more than one unexpected turn along the way.

Liverpool, 1939. As winter descends on Tuppenny Corner and rumours of war float across the canals, 15-year-old Rosie O’Leary must come to terms with her own dramatic upheaval. Forced to say good-bye to all she holds dear and embark on a new life aboard The Kingfisher, her world is suddenly full of uncertainty. But new beginnings open up new possibilities.... When fellow bargee Tim Bradley offers to show Rosie the sights of Liverpool, she jumps at the chance, and it’s not long before their friendship grows into something more.

Emmy Dickens lives with her widowed mother in a neat house in neglected Nightingale Court, but Mrs Dickens has always impressed upon her daughter that her main aim in life must be to escape from the court. Emmy sees that marriage is her best way out, and when Peter Wesley, First Officer aboard a cruise ship, asks her to marry him, she is over the moon. Life goes well for the newlyweds; they set up home and start a family. But when Peter is killed and Emmy is left almost penniless, her problems begin....

1901. Tina Rose is the beloved daughter of a wealthy Jewish family while Edward grew up with an abusive father in the wilds of New Zealand. Despite their differences, the two fall madly in love when Edward arrives in England, looking for a better future. However, the consequences of their love affair are terrible for Tina, as she is shamed by the father she adores, and Edward is sent away. Against all the odds, Tina and Edward find each other again.

Tammy and her mother, Grace, are desperate to escape Tammy’s violent bully of a father. But when an unforeseen tragedy strikes, mother and daughter must flee Scotland in the dead of night. To survive the severest of penalties, they leave behind everything they know and love – including one another. Under new identities, Tammy and Grace must start afresh. Tammy joins the services and there she meets a dashing officer who begins to break her guard down. But can the course of love ever run smooth with Tammy unable to reveal her true self?

Miranda Lovage and her mother have a blazing row when Arabella tells her daughter that she can no longer afford their present lifestyle. Miranda goes to bed angry and upset. When she awakes next morning, however, it is to find that her mother has disappeared. Miranda raises the alarm but everyone is baffled, and when searches fail to discover Arabella's whereabouts, Miranda is forced to live with her Aunt Vi and cousin Beth, who resent her presence and treat her badly.

A few days before Christmas Tess Williams rushes into Albert Payne's tobacconist shop, with two boys in hot pursuit, saying she's a thief. Albert chases the boys away, and though Tess does not realise it, this incident changes her life. Tess lives with her grandmother, Edie, in a small flat on Heyworth Street. She has recently returned from Bell Farm, where she was evacuated during the war. When the handsome Snowy White comes to her rescue she thinks her troubles are over, and returns to Bell Farm for a working holiday.

It is 1900, and Adeline Warburton and Arnold Haslington have fallen deeply in love. But though both are from wealthy families, their social status is too far apart for their families to approve of the match. And when Arnold marries another, Adeline’s reaction is immediate and altogether unexpected, as she travels to make a new life in China. But although they are separated by thousands of miles, the consequences of their youthful passion continue to haunt them and their children - Addy’s daughter, Nala, and Arnold’s son, Philip. As the years pass and the children grow, violent forces are set to bring them together, unaware of the secrets from the past that bind them.

Val Neyler, driving an ambulance through the blazing heart of London, is in an impossible position, for the man she loves is a fighter pilot with the Luftwaffe. And Jenny, whose husband, Simon, is flying Spitfires, finds herself working as a landgirl on a Devon farm. Cara, by contrast, develops her social life, and Maude, in the WAAF, falls in love with two men at once.... And Tina, matriarch of the family, loves them all, scolds them all, and tries to understand the new generation growing up in the troubled times of war.

1936. Polly's guardian angel has to work overtime when her large family is forced to move from the countryside they love into central Liverpool. Money is desperately short, and with her mother working and her father sick, Polly is easily led astray by the handsome Sunny Andersen. But soon war looms, and Sunny joins the navy to train as a signaller. After the horrors of the May Blitz, Polly, too, decides she wants to help her country and goes into the WRNs. She hears that an old pal, Tad Donoghue from the Dublin slums, is now in the Royal Air Force.

Dympna Byrne lives a simple life with her family on the Connemara coast. She adores her father Micheál, and does her best to help her family by working hard and expecting little. But beneath the surface there are hidden secrets. Dympna’s mother idolises her clever eldest son, yet her attitude to Dympna is puzzling. So when her family find themselves in desperate need of money, it is Dympna who crosses the water to Liverpool to seek a better life.

It wasn't a privileged childhood, but it was a happy one. Sybil and Lizzie Cream, brought up in a fisherman's cottage on the edge of the cold North Sea, were content to leave privilege where it belonged: with their friends the Wintertons. Christina Winterton was the same age as Sybil, and the two girls were inseparable, but it was Lizzie whom Ralph Winterton, three years older, found irresistible. Then war came to East Anglia, and so did Manchester-born Fenn Kitzmann, now of the American Army Air Force.

1939. Eve Armstrong is being evacuated to Devon. As the train pulls out of London, she takes a last look at the crowded platform, the shabbily dressed evacuees, and a rude little boy sticking his tongue out. At first, Eve is happier than ever at Drake's Farm. It's a different world that invites fresh starts, and so when Eve runs into the boy from the station, Johnny Durrell, they call a truce and soon become firm friends. The war might be a distant reality, but the arrival of Connie Hale makes every day a battle.

Rose McAllister is waiting for her husband, Steve, to come home. He is a seaman, often drunk and violent. Rose does her best to cope and sees that her daughters, Daisy and Petal, suffer as little as possible. Sensing that war is on the horizon, Steve tries to reform, but on his last night home, he pawns the girls' new dolls to go on a drinking binge. When war is declared, Rose finds a good job but agrees the children must be evacuated. War brings hardship and difficulty for the girls and Rose as they face the destruction of their home and cruelty at the hands of others....

Jess and Nancy, nursing in France during the Great War, are very different girls with much in common. Both have lost their lovers in the trenches, so when the war is over, they return to a bleak future, nursing in Liverpool. Very soon, however, their paths diverge. Nancy marries an Australian and goes to live in the Outback whilst Jess marries a Liverpudlian. Both have children; Nancy's eldest is Pete, and Jess has a daughter, Debbie.

Liverpool, 1917. When Irish seaman Michael Gallagher docks in Liverpool after years of fighting with the British Navy, he never expects to fall in love. But the moment he glimpses Stella Bennett, all thoughts of returning to his homeland vanish. Determined to be together, the young couple defy Stella’s parents’ wishes. But their plans to marry are soon derailed by the arrival of baby Ginny. Her crop of fiery red hair plants a seed of doubt in her father’s mind, and it’s not long before their world begins to fall apart.

Hetty Gilbert is a canal child with no permanent address, so when she needs to join the library, she cannot do so. Miss Preece dislikes children, but Hetty's longing for books touches a chord and she stretches the rules to help her. Soon, Hetty's chief desire is to become a librarian like her friend. But with war on the horizon, their lives will never be the same.

Marianne seems to have everything. She is married to a handsome Naval officer, Neil Sheridan. They have a daughter, Libby, and a beautiful home near Prince's Park in Liverpool. When war comes, Marianne takes war work and moves in with her mother, Mrs Wainwright, and younger sister. Neil disapproves because the Wainwrights live close to the docks, which are bound to be a bombing target, but Marianne is firm.